Tap and pay eftpos was introduced at a similar time to myki, and has been embraced by consumers and industry. The increased convenience of easy payment options is obviously hugely popular, and arguably increases people likelihood to pay on card over cash, with some busy venues displaying signs advising they prefer you tap than pay cash. By comparison, the myki system has had a number of issues, and some improvements, but many friends of mine still opt to take a taxi or Uber if the price is comparable and they don’t have a myki card on them (particularly to avoid paying the additional $6 for a new card).

In the interest of increasing public transport usage, it helps to make the option as convenient as possible for people, particularly irregular users with the potential to be ‘won over’. As Melbourne moves ever so slightly towards increasing the provision of public transport (http://dla-plantastic.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/all-night-long.html), is this the kind of technology we should also be investing in? Could a myki app be a cost effective way to improve the user friendliness of the system without a complete overall?